Peanut Butter Eggs: a family-table method

Peanut butter eggs stacked in a pile with one cut open.

These kitchen-made peanut butter eggs are a copycat recipe that taste even better than the Reese’s eggs you buy at the store!

Delight the peanut butter cup lovers in your life with these decadent and tasty peanut butter Easter eggs. They’re so straightforward to make that you’ll never go back to store bought. Serve your candy eggs with mini egg cookies or birds nest cookies for a sweet and festive end to your holiday meal.

In my opinion, Easter candy is the FINEST candy of the year. You’ve got creme eggs, all those fun types of jelly beans, Peeps, and of course Reese’s eggs. I love Reese’s peanut butter eggs and decided it was time to try making a copycat version at home. I have to say, my kitchen-made peanut butter eggs are even better than Reese’s eggs! They’re not difficult to make and are reliable packaged up for gift giving, class parties and Easter baskets of course.

You can make a platter of Easter treats to serve with these eggs like Oreo balls, rocky road fudge and chocolate covered cherries. Looking for more spring dessert ideas? Don’t miss my collections of 30 Easter Dessert Recipes and 22 Peeps Recipes!

Peanut Butter Eggs Ingredients

When you make this peanut butter eggs recipe you will want to have powdered sugar, silky peanut butter, butter, chocolate chips, shortening and cooking spray. See the recipe card below for amounts and details.

Powdered Sugar: The powdered sugar is the binding agent to make that melt-in-your-mouth peanut butter center, and it also adds the reliable amount of sweetness. You can use powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar for this recipe.
Peanut Butter: It’s important to choose a smooth and silky peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy for the most authentic flavor. I don’t recommend using the natural style peanut butters as they can separate and make the finished product oily.
Butter: The butter combines with the peanut butter and powdered sugar to make a rich and silky filling.
Chocolate Chips: Choose a high quality chocolate for finest results. My go-to chocolate chip brands are Guittard and Ghirardelli.
Shortening: The shortening thins out the melted chocolate, which makes it easier to coat the eggs evenly when they’re dipped. It also produces a nice shiny finish when the chocolate sets. If you don’t have shortening, coconut oil will also work.

Peanut butter, powdered sugar, water and butter in a bowl.

How To Make Peanut Butter Eggs

To make peanut butter cup eggs, first mix together peanut butter, powdered sugar, butter and water to make a dough in a stand mixer or with an electric mixer. Press the peanut butter dough into a foil lined pan. Then let it chill in the refrigerator until the mixture is firm. Use a cookie cutter to cut egg shapes out of the peanut butter filling. Freeze the eggs so they can harden before they go into the chocolate.

Melt the chocolate with shortening, then dip the eggs in the chocolate. Place the dipped eggs on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or sheet pan to harden. You can add a little drizzle of chocolate on top for decoration. Let the eggs set, then serve and enjoy.

Tips For The Reliable Peanut Butter Eggs

You want a dough that’s not too crumbly, yet not too sticky. Feel free to add a little more liquid or powdered sugar to get to the right consistency.
I found an egg shaped cookie cutter online, but many stores sell them this time of the year.
You can make your eggs as large or as small as you like. I typically use a larger cookie cutter, about 3 inches, but these would be awesome made as mini eggs too!
I recommend using a fork to dip your eggs in the chocolate, this way the excess chocolate coating can run off the tines of the fork.
You can melt your chocolate in a double boiler; however, I find it to be easier to melt chocolate in a microwave. Heat the chocolate for 30 seconds at a time until melted. Stir your melted chocolate before using.
If you don’t want to use chocolate chips and shortening, you can use chocolate candy melts or chocolate melting wafers instead.
Line a sheet pan or baking sheet with parchment paper or waxed paper. This will prevent the chocolate covered eggs from sticking and also makes clean up easier.

Quick Tip

These Reese’s peanut butter cup eggs can be made up to 5 days before you plan to serve them. You can store them covered at room temperature, or if it’s a warm day, put them in the fridge.

Peanut butter eggs in grass garnished with jelly beans.

Recipe FAQs

What are Reese’s eggs?

Reese’s eggs are a milk chocolate shell filled with a silky peanut butter mixture. They are only available for a limited period of time each year, typically during the months of February, March and April.

Why do Reese’s eggs taste different?

Peanut butter eggs taste different than peanut butter cups because the chocolate to peanut butter ratio is slightly different. There’s also a different textural contrast because the coating on a peanut butter egg is smooth, whereas there are ridges on a peanut butter cup.

What is the most popular candy for Easter?

According to public opinion surveys as well as data collected from consumer shopping habits, Reese’s peanut butter eggs are the most popular Easter candy.

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A stack of chocolate covered Reese's eggs.

Flavor Variations

These peanut butter eggs are tasty as-is, but you can customize some of the ingredients to suit your tastes.

Chocolate: This recipe will work with semisweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. If you go with white chocolate, be sure to look for chips that contain cocoa butter and not palm oil.
Peanut Butter: You can substitute in crunchy peanut butter, just avoid the natural peanut butter varieties with the oil on top.
Add-Ins: Feel free to stir in 1/4 cup of Rice Krispies, mini chocolate chips, mini Reese’s Pieces or shredded coconut to the peanut butter dough for a different flavor and texture.
Vanilla: Feel free to add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract to your peanut butter mixture for a more complex flavor.
Decorations: You can decorate the tops of your eggs with sprinkles or small candies.

This year surprise your family and friends with these peanut butter eggs, you’re sure to get rave reviews!

More Sweet Treats You’ll Enjoy

Birds Nest Cookies

6 mins

Berry Chantilly Cake

2 hrs 30 mins

Funfetti Cookies

15 mins

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

16 mins

Greek Yogurt Cheesecakes

35 mins

Love This Recipe?

Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.

Add as Google preferred source Authorthe Makdob kitchen A stack of peanut butter eggs coated in chocolate.

These kitchen-made peanut butter eggs are a copycat recipe that taste even better than the Reese’s eggs you buy at the store! Time Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time2 minutes
Chill Time1 hour
Total Time12 minutes

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Serves 12

Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups silky peanut butter
1/4 cup butter melted
3 cups chocolate chips semi sweet, milk chocolate or white chocolate
1 tablespoon shortening
cooking spray

Instructions

Place the powdered sugar, peanut butter, butter and 2 tablespoons of water in the bowl of a mixer.
Beat on low speed until a dough forms. If the dough is too crumbly to hold together, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
Line an 8″ or 9″ square pan with foil. Coat the foil with cooking spray.
Press the peanut butter mixture into an even layer in the pan, then chill for 30 minutes.
Remove the peanut butter mixture from the pan by using the edges of the foil as handles and cut out egg shapes with a cookie cutter.
Place the eggs on a parchment lined sheet pan and freeze for 30 minutes.
Add the chocolate chips and shortening to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments until chocolate is melted. Stir until smooth.
Remove the eggs from the freezer and dip them in the chocolate. Tap against the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate.
Place the dipped eggs back onto the parchment lined sheet. Repeat until all eggs are coated. Drizzle and remaining chocolate over the top of the eggs using a small spoon or piping bag.
Let sit until chocolate is firm, then serve. Eggs may be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Notes

You want a dough that’s not too crumbly, yet not too sticky. Feel free to add a little more liquid or powdered sugar to get to the right consistency.
I recommend using a fork to dip your eggs in the chocolate, this way the excess chocolate can run off the tines of the fork.
If you don’t want to use chocolate chips and shortening, you can use chocolate candy melts or chocolate melting wafers instead.
Line a sheet pan or baking sheet with parchment paper or waxed paper. This will prevent the chocolate covered eggs from sticking and also makes clean up easier.